MUMBAI: Mudra West, an SBU of Mudra India, has won the Lonely Planet guide‘s creative and digital media account following a multi-agency pitch. Lonely Planet recently established operations in India to develop its first locally produced guides for Indian travellers.

BBC Worldwide‘s wholly owned subsidiary, Lonely Planet, has grown to become one of the leading global providers of travel information over the past 39 years. Lonely Planet has distributed English-language guides in India since the 1980‘s primarily been purchased by expatriates and inbound travellers.

Lonely Planet‘s Indian publishing team will drive the development of the new local products from offices in Gurgaon and Delhi. Lonely Planet India will initially launch both international and domestic guides for Indian travellers and will expand its local content offering across a range of platforms, including the internet.

Lonely Planet - India GM Sesh Seshadri said, "We are very excited about working with Mudra and the progress of our new guides - the first ever created in India by our new Indian team. Mudra inspired us with their marketing ideas and vision for how to launch and develop Lonely Planet‘s brand in India."

Mudra West president Arijit Ray said, "Lonely Planet is an iconic brand in the travel space. For us it has been a privileged association. We had a great time launching the magazine in the country and now look forward to working closely with the Lonely Planet team to orchestrate the launch and positioning of the Lonely Planet guides, in India. Our biggest strength is a talented team that understands the sensibilities of the brand."